Ford Reaches Agreement With Covisint To Develop Supplier Portal

[Marc]

FORD REACHES AGREEMENT WITH COVISINT TO DEVELOP SUPPLIER PORTAL

DEARBORN, Michigan, August 30, 2001 - Ford Motor Company has reached an agreement with Covisint to develop and host the next generation of the Ford Supplier Network (FSN). The FSN, launched in 1998, supports more than 4,200 suppliers, and has approximately 42,000 end users globally.

"This new implementation of the Ford Supplier Network underscores our commitment to leverage Ford's relationship with Covisint to create stronger ties between Ford and our suppliers," said Carlos Mazzorin, Ford group vice president of Global Purchasing and South America.

"Ford is the first OEM to make this strategic move toward an industry solution for supplier/OEM connectivity and we're hopeful other OEMs will follow our lead," he said.

This action will allow Ford and its suppliers to effectively leverage Covisint's global infrastructure. Some of the key features will include:

* Access to Ford specific, and Covisint industry-wide applications from a unified, customizable portal page.

* A secure environment that will provide suppliers more effective access to internal Ford applications.

* The first generation of a consolidated supplier directory that will allow Covisint to enable suppliers to update their profile once, and automatically be shared with all OEMs.

* Multi-language capability to improve global collaboration between Ford and its suppliers.

* The ability for Ford to consolidate and offer a single global supplier portal across all brands and regions.

"Ford's choice of Covisint for this mission-critical initiative underscores one of our primary reasons for being," said Kevin W. English, chairman, CEO and president of Covisint. "We are here to provide connectivity for the global automotive industry. This decision will help us make great progress toward achieving that goal."

The next generation of FSN is scheduled to be operational by February 2002.